Use of ATP Readings to Predict a Successful Hygiene Intervention in the Workplace to Reduce the Spread of Viruses on Fomites

The purpose of this study was to validate the use of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) for evaluating hygiene intervention effectiveness in reducing viral dissemination in an office environment. The bacterial virus MS-2 was used to evaluate two scenarios, one where the hand of an individual was contaminated and another where a fomite was contaminated. MS-2 was selected as a model because its shape and size are similar to many human pathogenic viruses. Two separate experiments were conducted, one in which the entrance door push plate was inoculated and the other in which the hand of one selected employee was inoculated. In both scenarios, 54 selected surfaces in the office were tested to assess the dissemination of the virus within the office. Associated surface contamination was also measured employing an ATP meter. More than half of the tested hands and surfaces in the office were contaminated with MS-2 within 4 h. Next, an intervention was conducted, and each scenario was repeated. Half of the participating employees were provided hand sanitizer, facial tissues, and disinfecting wipes, and were instructed in their use. A significant (p < 0.05) reduction was observed in the number of surfaces contaminated with virus. This reduction in viral spread was evident from the results of both viral culture and the surface ATP measurements, although there was no direct correlation between ATP measurements with respect to viral concentration. Although ATP does not measure viruses, these results demonstrate that ATP measurements could be useful for evaluating the effectiveness of hygiene interventions aimed at preventing viral spread in the workplace.     

Formic acid as an alternative reducing agent for the catalytic nitrate reduction in aqueous media

Formic acid was used for the nitrate reduction as a reductant in the presence of Pd:Cu/γ-alumina catalysts. The surface characteristics of the bimetallic catalyst synthesized by wet impregnation were investigated by SEM, TEM-EDS. The metals were not distributed homogeneously on the surface of catalyst, although the total contents of both metals in particles agreed well with the theoretical values. Formic acid decomposition on the catalyst surface, its influence on solution pH and nitrate removal efficacy was investigated. The best removal of nitrate (50 ppm) was obtained under the condition of 0.75 g/L catalyst with Pd:Cu ratio (4:1) and two fold excess of formic acid. Formic acid decay patterns resembled those of nitrate removal, showing a linear relationship between kf (formic acid decay) and k (nitrate removal). Negligible amount of ammonia was detected, and no nitrite was detected, possibly due to buffering effect of bicarbonate that is in situ produced by the decomposition of formic acid, and due to the sustained release of H2 gas.     

Tool wear of coated drills in drilling CFRP

This study aimed to investigate the wear of certain coated drills when drilling carbon fiber reinforced composites (CFRP). Three different drills were used in the drilling experiments: uncoated, diamond coated and AlTiN coated carbide (WC–Co) drills. The tool wear in CFRP machining was quite different from that in conventional metal machining. The primary wear type was a dulling or blunting of the cutting edge, which has been referred to as edge rounding wear or edge recession. In this paper, a hypothesis has been developed to explain the edge rounding wear in CFRP machining. Due to the fracture-based chip formation of CFRP, there is lack of the work material stagnation zone in front of the cutting edge, which normally prevents the edge wear in metal machining. Series of wear lead to rapid dulling of the cutting edge. The resistance to edge rounding wear on the coated as well as uncoated drills has been investigated. The diamond coating significantly reduces the edge rounding wear. However, AlTiN coated drills showed no visible improvement over the uncoated carbide drill, despite of their high hardness, thus not protecting the drill. The wear mechanisms of the uncoated carbide drill and coatings are discussed. It is believed that the 2-body and 3-body abrasive wear fail to explain the observed tool wear in CFRP drilling. However, the wear of the coatings and uncoated carbide substrate from tribo-meter tests correlated well with the tool wear in the CFRP drilling. Therefore, the tribo-meter test can be used to screen the prospective tool materials before carrying drilling experiment.     

Detection and Molecular Characterization of Human Noroviruses in Korean Groundwater Between 2008 and 2010

RT-PCR, nucleotide sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis were performed for genotyping and molecular characterization of noroviruses isolated from Korean groundwater. Among 160 samples collected from 80 sites between 2008 and 2010, 14 samples (8.7?%) from 12 sites were positive for noroviruses (NoVs). The percentages of NoV-positive samples in 2008, 2009, and 2010 were 22.2, 3.2, and 0?%, respectively, representing a yearly decrease. GII-positive samples (n?=?9, 5.6?%) outnumbered GI-positive samples (n?=?5, 3.1?%). The genotypes of the GI NoVs were GI.2, GI.5, and GI.6, and the genotypes of the GII NoVs were all GII.4. One sample, HM623465, was very similar to CUK-3 and CBNU2 and two GII.4 sequences isolated from the stool of Korean gastroenteritis patients. A BLASTN search revealed several nucleotide sequences highly similar to those of NoVs isolated in this study. The original isolation sources for these similar NoVs were mostly stool (n?=?731, 80.0?%) and groundwater (n?=?135, 14.8?%), and all the countries from which they were isolated were almost in Asia (96.0?%); specifically, China (n?=?192, 21.0?%), Japan (n?=?383, 41.9?%), Korea (n?=?296, 32.4?%), and other Asian countries (n?=?6, 0.7?%). These results suggest that Korean groundwater might be contaminated with NoVs from the stool of infected patients and that these NoVs in turn cause new cases of gastroenteritis through a typical fecal-oral route with region-specific circulation. Therefore, it is important to properly treat sewage, which may include waterborne viruses and manage point sources in groundwater for national health and sanitation. In addition, continuous molecular surveillance remains important for understanding circulating NoVs.     

Building regional priorities in forests for development and adaptation to climate change in the Congo Basin

Indentifying common priorities in shared natural resource systems constitutes an important platform for implementing adaptation and a major step in sharing a common responsibility in addressing climate change. Predominated by discourses on REDD + (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries) with little emphasis on adaptation there is a risk of lack of policy measures in addressing climate change in the Congo Basin. Forest products and ecosystem services provide security portfolios for the predominantly rural communities, and play major roles in national development programmes in both revenue and employment opportunities. Thus, raising the profile of forests in the policy arena especially in the twin roles of addressing climate change in mitigation and adaptation and achieving resilient development is crucial. Within the framework of the Congo Basin Forests and Climate Change Adaptation project (COFCCA) project, science policy dialogue was conducted to identify and prioritize forest based sectors vulnerable to climate change but important to household livelihoods and national development. The goal of the prioritization process was for the development of intervention in forest as measures for climate change adaptation in Central Africa. Participants constituted a wide range of stakeholders (government, Non Governmental Organizations, research institutions, universities, community leaders, private sectors etc.) as representatives from three countries directly involved in the project: Cameroon, Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo. Building on national priorities, four forest related sectors were identified as common priorities at the regional level for focus on climate change adaptation. These sectors included: (1) energy with emphasis on fuel wood and Charcoal; (2) Water principally quality, quantity, accessibility, etc.; (3) Food with emphasis on Non Timber Forest Products, and (4) Health linked to healthcare products (medicinal plants). Using these prioritized sectors, the project focused on addressing the impacts of climate change on local communities and the development of adaptation strategies in the three pilot countries of the Congo Basin region. The four sectors constitute the key for development in the region and equally considered as priority sectors in the poverty reduction papers. Focused research on these sectors can help to inject the role of forests in national and local development and their potentials contributions to climate change adaptation in national and public discourses. Mainstreaming forest for climate change adaptation into national development planning is the key to improve policy coherence and effectiveness in forest management in the region.     

A juvenile lizard specimen with well-preserved skin impressions from the Upper Jurassic/Lower Cretaceous of Daohugou, Inner Mongolia, China

Lizards are now relatively well known from the Yixian Formation of northeastern China. In this study, we describe a juvenile lizard from a fossil horizon at Daohugou, Inner Mongolia. These beds predate the Yixian Formation, and are probably Late Jurassic or earliest Cretaceous in age. The new specimen thus documents the first lizard material from the Daohugou locality and is the earliest lizard skeleton from China. Comparisons with developmental stages of modern lizards suggest the Daohugou lizard is a hatchling. Although tiny, the specimen is notable in preserving exquisite skin impressions showing the variation in scalation across the body, the shape and position of the cloacal outlet, and details of the manus and pes. These are the earliest recorded lepidosaurian skin traces. In its general proportions and the possession of paired frontals, the small Daohugou lizard resembles both the Yixian taxon Yabeinosaurus tenuis and the questionable Jeholacerta formosa, but it differs from the latter in scalation and, based on other characters, may be distinct from both.     

A new THOR shoulder design: a comparison with volunteers, the Hybrid III, and THOR NT

OBJECTIVE: Since the shoulders are rarely seriously injured in frontal or oblique collisions, they have been given low priority in the development of frontal impact crash test dummies. The shoulder complex geometry and its kinematics are of vital importance for the overall dummy kinematics. The shoulder complex also influences the risk of the safety belt slipping off the shoulder in oblique forward collisions. The first aim of this study was to develop a new 50th percentile male THOR shoulder design, while the second was to compare the new shoulder, mounted on a THOR NT dummy, with volunteer, THOR NT, and Hybrid III range of motion and stiffness data. The third aim was to test the repeatability of the new shoulder during dynamic testing and to see how the design behaves with respect to belt slippage in a 45 degrees far-side collision. METHODS: The new 50th percentile THOR shoulder design was developed with the aid of a shell model of the seated University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) 50th percentile male with coordinates for joints and bony landmarks (Schneider et al., 1983). The new shoulder design has human-like bony landmarks for the acromion and coracoid processes. The clavicle curvature and length are also made similar to that of a male human, as is the range of motion in the anterior-posterior, superior-inferior, and medial-lateral directions. The new shoulder design was manufactured and tested under the same conditions that T?rnvall et al. (2005b) used to compare the shoulder range of motion for the volunteers, Hybrid III, and THOR Alpha. The new design was also tested in two dynamic test configurations: the first was a 0 degrees full-frontal test and the second was a 45 degrees far-side test. The dummy tests were conducted with an R-16 seat with a three-point belt, the Delta V was 27.0+/-0.5 km/h and the maximum peak acceleration was approximately 14.6+/-0.5 g for each test. RESULTS: A new shoulder design with geometry close to that of humans was developed to be retrofitted to the THOR NT dummy. The results showed that the range of motion for the new shoulder complex during static loading was larger by at least a factor of three, for the maximum load (200 N/arm), than that of either the Hybrid III or the THOR NT; this means it was more similar to the volunteers' range of motion. It was observed that the THOR NT with the new shoulder did not slide out of the shoulder belt during a far-side collision. The performance of the new shoulder was reasonably repeatable and stable during both the static tests and the sled tests. CONCLUSION: A new shoulder for the THOR NT has been designed and developed, and data from static range of motion tests and sled tests indicate that the new shoulder complex has the potential to function in a more human-like manner on the THOR dummy.     

Improvement of soil aggregate stability by repeated applications of organic amendments to a cultivated silty loam soil

The objective of this study was to compare the effects of repeated field applications of three urban compost amendments and one farmyard manure amendment over a 9-year period on aggregate stability in a silty loam soil initially characterized by low clay and initial organic matter contents and poor aggregate stability. Three different aggregate stability tests with increasing disruptive intensities (fast wetting > mechanical breakdown > slow wetting tests) and different disaggregation mechanisms, were used. All of the amendments, which were applied at approximately 4 Mg C ha⁻¹ every other year, increased the organic carbon content and improved the stability of the aggregates against the disruptive action of water, as determined by each of the stability tests. However, the year-to-year variations in the aggregate stability that related to factors other than the organic inputs were greater than the cumulative increase in aggregate stability relative to the control. The positive effects of the tested amendments on aggregate stability were linked to their contribution to soil organic C contents (r = 0.54 for the fast wetting test and r = 0.41-0.42 for the mechanical breakdown and slow wetting tests; p < 0.05). The addition of urban composts had a larger positive effect on aggregate stability than farmyard manure at the majority of sampling dates. The addition of biodegradable immature compost, such as municipal solid waste (MSW), improved the aggregate stability through an enhanced resistance to slaking. The addition of mature composts, such as the co-compost of sewage sludge and green wastes (GWS) or biowaste compost (BW), improved the aggregate stability by increasing interparticular cohesion. The MSW compost was the most efficient in improving aggregate stability during the first 6 years of the experiment (average improvements of +22%, +5% and +28% in the fast wetting, mechanical breakdown and slow wetting tests, respectively, compared to the control treatment); this result was likely due to the larger labile organic pool of the MSW compost that was highly effective at stimulating soil microbial activity. After the first 6 years, the two other composts, GWS and BW, became more efficient (average improvements of +25%, +61% and +33% in the fast wetting, mechanical breakdown and slow wetting tests, respectively, compared to the control treatment), which was probably linked to the greater increase in soil organic C contents. Therefore, the application of urban compost to silty soil that is susceptible to water erosion was effective at improving aggregate stability and thus could be used to enhance the resistance of soil to water erosion.     

Anatomical localization and stereoisomeric composition of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Tribolium castaneum</Emphasis> aggregation pheromones

We report that the abdominal epidermis and associated tissues are the predominant sources of male-produced pheromones in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum and, for the first time, describe the stereoisomeric composition of the natural blend of isomers of the aggregation pheromone 4,8-dimethyldecanal (DMD) in this important pest species. Quantitative analyses via gas chromatography–mass spectrometry showed that the average amount of DMD released daily by single feeding males of T. castaneum was 878 ± 72 ng (SE). Analysis of different body parts identified the abdominal epidermis as the major source of aggregation pheromone; the thorax was a minor source, while no DMD was detectable in the head. No internal organs or obvious male-specific glands were associated with pheromone deposition. Complete separation of all four stereoisomers of DMD was achieved following oxidation to the corresponding acid, derivatization with (1R, 2R)- and (1S, 2S)-2-(anthracene-2,3-dicarboximido)cyclohexanol to diastereomeric esters, and their separation on reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography at −54°C. Analysis of the hexane eluate from Porapak-Q-collected volatiles from feeding males revealed the presence of all four isomers (4R,8R)/(4R,8S)/(4S,8R)/(4S,8S) at a ratio of approximately 4:4:1:1. A walking orientation bioassay in a wind tunnel with various blends of the four synthetic isomers further indicated that the attractive potency of the reconstituted natural blend of 4:4:1:1 was equivalent to that of the natural pheromone and greater than that of the 1:1 blend of (4R,8R)/(4R,8S) used in commercial lures.     

Designing the sustainable product-service integration: a product-service blueprint approach

As a means for providing the sustainable production and consumption, the concept of product-service system (PSS) has received increasing attention. What is at the core in the PSS is the design, since it determines the distinctive characteristics and quality of PSS. Even though some tools have been suggested for PSS design, previous tools mainly focus on identifying the relationship between actors in a conceptual level. Despite the fact that it is significant and cannot be neglected, what is more important in a practical situation is to represent the detailed flow or relationship of PSS elements, with the consideration of products and services. In response, this paper proposes a ‘‘product-service blueprint’ which is a new and systematic way to elucidate the relationship between products and services, providing the implication of how PSS can provide the sustainable production and consumption. Employing the service blueprint as a starting point, new areas, lines, and symbols are introduced to represent the distinctive features of PSS. The proposed product-service blueprint represents the product use throughout the life cycle, service flow from the management to the customer, and the relationship between products and services. Taken together, the product-service blueprint will help both managers and researchers to promote the product-service integration under the concrete framework.